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20/10/2014

In the UK people were walking around in shell suits and bermuda shorts

(That's how I remember '91 anyway!)

It was a golden time to be a 12 year old as the SNES was released in the UK and it was for me the

Ultimate Video Games machine….

When I finally saved enough to own my own SNES I remember making the purchase at BOOTS and getting my SNES + Super Mario World package home.

The lovely SNES box was hastily opened and it was time to get down to business as I looked to invest 100s of hours into discovering every single secret that Super Mario World had to offer.

The cartridge would live in that SNES cartridge slot for at least the next 6months (and maybe a little more), what a great time to be a gamer that was and what a great game!

Why Am I Taking This Trip Down Memory Lane?

Fast forward to 2014……..

In the UK people are walking around in skinny jeans with floppy haircuts a plenty…..

It is still a golden time to be a 12 year old as the PS4 and XBOX ONE are both available for you to buy….

Take your pick as to which one you decide to buy because essentially, if you take away all the fan boy talk and media hype you will get the same machine and experience whether it has a Microsoft or Sony logo on it…..(controversial? I don't think so)

You've saved your hard earned pocket money to be able to afford one of these modern gaming beauties and you choose a PS4 over the XBOX ONE…..

You order it from Amazon and it arrives 24 hours later…..

You get home from school and you have a lovely Sony PS4 box to contend with…

You hastily open up your PS4 and plug it into the mains and get that HDMI cable into the back of your telly…

You turn on the beautiful sleek machine and you are ready to go……or are you?

Who Remembers Instant Video Games?

In '91 you plugged that rounded cartridge into your shiny new SNES and away you went, a familiar Nintendo ping later and you were gaming!

In 2014 you plug in your PS4 and you are waiting for a firmware update to download…………

It kind of takes the romance out of the situation doesn't it?

Once you get past the firmware download, you are then able to slip that Destiny disc into the PS4 slot and you're ready for video gaming joy…….

But only after you negotiate the next download that is fixing the bugs and glitches from the original release……

Is the romance dead now?

No doubt, once you do finally get to play your game (broadband allowing) then you will be treated to some of the most amazing visuals and gaming experiences ever…..BUT seriously what about the beauty of just slapping a game into a cartridge slot and playing immediately with friends who have come over to play you at Street Fighter….

Complexity vs Fun

As games become more complex and the gap between PC Gaming & Console Gaming gets closer together we are seeing the immediacy of the good old cartridge gaming being eroded and gamers are finding that the game released for general sale is not necessarily the finished product….therefore there are patches and fixes that need to be deployed….this all well and good but as primarily a console gamer I didn't sign up for a PC gaming experience I signed up to get my gaming fix with the least hassle. I just want to plug and play……

A Console For The Console Gamer Purists?

Maybe this is where the Nintendo Wii U has the upper hand…..?

When Nintendo release a game, that's it, you get the finished article. Polished to the standards of Nintendo. You pay your money and you play it from minute one. Pretty old school eh?!

(Well that is mainly the case when it comes to Wii U ,although there are some patches that exist these are generally the exception.)

Maybe Nintendo have an angle for an advertising campaign to exploit here?

A Rally Cry!!

I think that it may be time for gamers to unite and send a message to all those execs at Sony & Microsoft to let them know that as console gamers we are looking for instant video games fun and not instant video game frustration as we stare at a bar that tells us it's 6% complete and that we can't enjoy our brand new console and game until the download bar reaches 100%!

I'm thinking maybe small mini games or demos to play while we wait for the Firmware Update and the Game Patch and the DLC and the…………